Delta Electronics and China Mobile announce colour e-reader

Chinese manufacturers aren’t going to let big boy manufacturers take over in the e-reader market.

Delta Electronics a switching power supplies maker,and China Mobile have decided to pair up and create their first e-reader.

Sources in the supply chain told The Taipei Times that the 8.2-inch device will launch in December. It is said to come with a coloured panel instead of the monochrome models that are now available as well as3G and WiFi.

The model will carry the “Vivitek” brand logo, which is a maker of e-paper and projectors.

China Mobile with subsidise the e-reader. However further partnership will depend on how well the market receives the first product, sources said.

“There are some bugs still to be ironed out for the product to make it on time for the December launch,” a source said.

It said Delta was being “very aggressive with the e-reader segment, because it has the capability to control the whole manufacturing process, from e-paper and components to the end products.”

Not only will the new e-reader compete with manufacturers such as Amazon and Acer but closer to home it will also go head-to-head with China manufacturer, Hanvon, which currently has a range of monochrome readers on offer, but will unveil its first coloured model in Japan in November.

Acer is thought to be launching its e-reader globally in the next few months.

Asustek’s e-reader, which is thought to be 8.9 inches, runs on ARM architecture, Marvell chips and the Linux operating system and will also be launched shortly.